Word: albertsons
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have noticed the additional shelf space that low-carb goods are getting in your supermarket. The Albertson's chain now offers more than 100 low-carb products, compared with just 10 less than a year ago. "We found it's having a profound effect," says Andrew Kramer, Albertson's director of ethnic marketing and specialty foods. Sales in his category more than doubled last year, led by growth in low-carb lines. Meanwhile, the central action alley at Wal-Mart SuperCenters crammed some 200 low-carb products into a 16-ft. run during prime dieting season after New Year...
...Like too many of his fellow grocers, Davis thought getting bigger himself would make things better. Before Wal-Mart, he says, "we tried to limit our distance from our warehouses to 300 miles. Now we're going 500 miles" to reach stores as far as the Gulf Coast. Kroger, Albertson's and Safeway each went on an acquisition spree a few years ago, but whatever savings that resulted from centralizing operations have been offset by the obliteration of local ties and customer service. And Albertson's isn't finished. The company (2003 sales: $35.4 billion) just bought New England...
Geonetta is in what Albertson calls "the dream phase." According to Albertson, a former sound engineer who worked his way up to co-CEO from Guitar Center's sales floor, "becoming a musician is all about dreaming. The longer we can extend the dream phase, the better." In the past several years, the dream phase got a boost from advances in digital recording technology. Artists like Geonetta who don't have a record-label contract used to have to pay tens of thousands of dollars for studio time plus distribution costs. But now amateurs can produce CDs with their home...
Music retailing has traditionally been a fragmented industry of mom-and-pop stores. Guitar Center, however, is following the lead of retail giants like Wal-Mart. After raising $101 million in a 1997 IPO, Albertson and his co-CEO, Larry Thomas (himself a frustrated rock guitarist), went on an expansion run that included opening new stores at the rate of one or two a month and acquiring, in 1999, the Musician's Friend catalog for $48 million. In 2001 the company purchased a 19-store chain catering to schoolkids and beginners called American Music, and last year it opened...
Guitar Center hopes to avoid the growing pains that often plague expanding businesses. Albertson says he expects a bump in his customer base in the near future. After dropping for decades, the population of men ages 15 to 29, the chain's prime customers, is projected to rise 6% by 2010. The company is expanding its pro-audio selection and is exploring opening stores in Canada and Britain...